The loss report was quickly summarized, Huang Xiaotian did not adjust the route of the fleet after letting the fleet turn, Yan Yulong also guessed what Huang Xiaotian was thinking, so while submitting the loss report, Yan Yulong also prepared two other reports, one is a statistical table of the fleet's remaining combat capability, and the other is a summary table of the strength of the Fifth Fleet improved by a number of bomber officers.

What Huang Xiaotian attaches the most importance to is the loss of the fleet aviation, which is also the focus of his attention.

Losses of combat aircraft are divided into two scenarios, one is combat losses, and the other is non-combat losses. Combat losses refer to those that were shot down during an attack on the Fifth Fleet, or were wounded and forced to land on their way back. The combat losses of this attack were not small, more than half of the bombers, sixty percent of the escort fighters were shot down. This was the largest combat operation in the more than two years of the history of the 4th Task Force! Non-combat losses refer to the warplanes that were blown up on aircraft carriers when the fleet was bombed, as well as those warplanes that were unable to land on the aircraft carriers after returning to the fleet and were forced to make a forced landing on the sea. As a result, only 5 bombers on the "Taihu" aircraft carrier and 3 bombers on the "Chaohu" aircraft carrier were not included in the list of losses, and the other 352 carrier-based combat aircraft of the fleet were all lost!

Pilot losses were also quite heavy, with a total of 281 pilots shot down during reconnaissance, bombing, and fleet air defense operations, of which only 132 were rescued, and another 149 pilots were either missing or confirmed dead. This number of losses is only under the "Battle of the Coral Sea", which is the second heaviest battle in the history of the 4th Task Force in more than two years. Of the 132 pilots who were rescued, there were more than 20 seriously wounded, some of whom will certainly not recover. In addition to the pilots lost in operation, more than 30 pilots were killed on the aircraft carrier and more than 40 were wounded when the fleet was bombed. Including the pilots who were later disabled and unable to continue their service, Task Force 4 lost nearly 200 pilots.

Look at the familiar names on the list of dead and missing pilots. Huang Xiaotian's mood was extremely sad. Many of them arrived at the time of the establishment of Task Force 4, and most of them had served in Task Force 4 for more than a year. Huang Xiaotian has always been personally in charge of the fleet's air force, he is familiar with every pilot in the fleet, familiar with every face of them, familiar with every smile of them, and now, most of these people have died, and maybe some will be captured by the US military. But they will also endure inhuman torture in American prisoner of war camps, living worse than death, perhaps, they will not be able to hold out until the end of the war, and they will not be able to hold on until the moment they are rescued. Just a few hours ago, they were lively and cheerful young people, and now, each name represents a life that has left this world, a life worthy of mourning by all the soldiers and civilians of the Empire!

"I just asked the captain that the flight deck of the aircraft carrier could not be repaired quickly. And the catapult was also damaged. It is difficult to continue service, and the aircraft carrier will not be able to carry out full repairs until it returns to the port of Apra. Yan Yulong's voice was very low, although he had only been the chief of staff of the fleet for a few months. But he was also familiar with those pilots, at least some of them. "The other two aircraft carriers are in a much worse situation. ' The Chaohu is slightly better, not badly flooded, and is working to repair the damaged steam turbine, and is now able to keep up with the fleet's cruising speed. The situation of the Honghu was much worse, several major holes in the aircraft carrier could not be repaired during the voyage, and the captain had ordered the watertight doors of the adjacent ground to be closed, and repairs could only be carried out in the harbor. If we want to continue fighting, we must at least return the Honghu to Apra Harbor first, and perhaps the other two aircraft carriers can be maintained on the Midway side. We can also ......"

"There is no need, all three aircraft carriers have to return to the port of Apra." Huang Xiaotian's expression changed from frustration to determination. "All three aircraft carriers have lost their aviation combat capability, and if they are not properly repaired, they will leave a lot of hidden dangers. At the beginning, the "Yangtze River" and "Xuanzong" aircraft carriers were not properly maintained, and as a result, their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, resulting in the rapid sinking of the "Yangtze River" and the "Xuanzong" had to take a back seat. Our priority is to save these three aircraft carriers and contact General Liao Hanxiang as soon as possible so that he can prepare for the repair of the aircraft carriers. If possible. Destroyers were arranged to escort the aircraft carrier back to Guam. ”

"So we'll go back now?"

Huang Xiaotian didn't speak immediately, he was a little unwilling. Although the six aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet were all seriously injured by the explosion, and when Zhang Zhiyun returned home, two of them were still on fire. However, none of the pilots saw the sinking of these six aircraft carriers, which was what Huang Xiaotian was most unwilling to do. Even if he only sank one of the opponent's aircraft carriers, he felt that he had made a lot of money this time. If these six aircraft carriers are allowed to return to Pearl Harbor, perhaps in a few days, the Fifth Fleet will be back in combat capability, at least according to the reports of bomber pilots, two of them have only been hit by one bomb and have not been hit by torpedoes, and the damage caused by aerial bombs is the easiest to repair!

"If we want to escort the aircraft carrier back to the port of Apra, we only need to arrange a destroyer escort, and we don't need to think about using a cruiser to cover the aircraft carrier."

Huang Xiaotian had already thought of this, the fleet would not be threatened by the air on the way back, the routes were far away from the islands controlled by the US military, and the airfield on Wake Island had been blown up, so it was impossible for the US military to deploy long-range bombers to Wake Island in the short term. All that needs to be considered is the threat posed by those US submarines operating in the Central Pacific, and the anti-submarine work is carried out by destroyers, and heavy cruisers do not have anti-submarine warfare capabilities, so they cannot provide anti-submarine cover for aircraft carriers.

"In addition, our 'Death Fleet' is the closest to the Fifth Fleet, and half an hour ago, they sent a telegram asking if they wanted to intercept the Fifth Fleet."

"What? Half an hour ago? ”

Yan Yulong nodded. "You were dealing with rescuing the pilot, so ......"

"Don't take it as an example, if you receive any news in the future, you have to tell me immediately, understand?" Huang Xiaotian did not hold Yan Yulong responsible. "It seems that we really shouldn't give up, but the problem is that if we go after the Fifth Fleet now, it's too far away. Moreover, the Fifth Fleet is still advancing towards Necke Island, and as long as the Fifth Fleet comes into the cover range of shore-based bombers on Necke Island, then we will not be able to threaten the Fifth Fleet. ”

"Only the 'Death Fleet' will be able to catch up with the Fifth Fleet when it reaches the waters near Necker Island and intercept the Fifth Fleet."

Huang Xiaotian nodded, but he fell silent again.

The "death flotilla" consisted of only 3 heavy cruisers of the "River" class and 6 large destroyers of the "City" class. Although at the beginning, Huang Xiaotian believed that the "death fleet" was to send to death, and compared to the "Baltimore"-class heavy cruisers of the US army. As far as the "Fletcher" class destroyers are concerned, the combat effectiveness of the "River" class and the "City" class is even stronger, especially the power of the nine large-diameter 200-mm heavy guns on the ground of the "River" class is far higher than that of the US 203-mm naval guns, and there is also an advanced radar and artillery aiming system. But is it necessary to send the "daring fleet" to death now? The Fifth Fleet had at least a dozen heavy cruisers, as well as more than 30 destroyers, most of which remained undamaged. More importantly, the numerical superiority of US warships is not something that can be offset by quality in air combat!

Huang Xiaotian did not rush to make a decision, but carefully considered it with the help of the chart. Because the Fifth Fleet has been sailing eastward. In the morning, it also turned southeast. So the distance from the "daredevil, fleet" has been shortened to about 170 nautical miles. And judging by the final bombing report, at least three aircraft carriers in the Fifth Fleet have a speed of less than 18 knots, and the "Death Fleet" can maintain a speed of at least 31 knots in pursuit. 170 nautical miles in a straight line. If the Fifth Fleet returns to Necke Island, then the "Death Fleet" will be able to catch up at about 0:00 a.m. tomorrow. If the Fifth Fleet evades to the south, then the "Death Fleet" will be able to catch up by four o'clock tomorrow morning.

This distance is not a problem, as long as the speed of the Fifth Fleet is less than 20 knots, then it will not be possible to return to the cover range of shore-based bombers on Necker Island before dawn. The question is, is it necessary for the "Death Fleet" to do a one-time attack with less and more, almost with no return?

In addition, Spruance has already discovered the "Death Fleet", will he have expected that the "Death Fleet" will intercept the Fifth Fleet? If it will. Naspruance will definitely organize his heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers, and at least form an artillery strike formation that surpasses the combat effectiveness of the "daring fleet" to deal with the imminent threat. Then the "Dare to Die Fleet" is unlikely to threaten the aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet, but will fight an artillery battle with the escort warships of the Fifth Fleet. But the problem is that if Spruance hadn't expected it, then he wouldn't have made arrangements. At that time, the "Death Fleet" can quickly kill the aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet, the heavy guns on the cruisers, and the heavy torpedoes on the destroyers can kill the aircraft carriers. So is it cost-effective to use the "Death Fleet" to exchange for an aircraft carrier? If it is two ships and carriers, then it must be cost-effective, but the question is, how likely is this?

If it was Tan Renhao who made the decision, he would definitely not let the "death fleet" send him to death, because Tan Renhao would not believe that Spruance would ignore the threatening cruisers and destroyers, you know, the aircraft carrier is not even as good as the destroyer in the artillery battle, and the injured aircraft carrier is even worse. A few years ago, two German naval battlecruisers, not much larger than the "River" class and not much stronger in their main guns, had sunk British aircraft carriers, and they had killed them with artillery. But the problem is that Huang Xiaotian is not talking about Renhao.

If Huang Xiaotian still had scruples about Spruance before, after these months of entanglement and more than ten days of confrontation, Huang Xiaotian felt that Spruance was not as terrible as he had been rumored before. At least, the Fifth Fleet made several low-level mistakes in combat operations, although he himself made several low-level mistakes and missed two opportunities to win in a row, but Spruance would not have performed very smartly, otherwise, the Fifth Fleet would not have had a draw with the Fourth Task Force, let alone almost be killed by the Fourth Task Force!

Huang Xiaotian did not forget Tan Renhao's "warning", but at the same time, he was also telling himself that he should pay attention to Spruance as an opponent, and he should attach great importance to it, but he should never be afraid of Spruance. Spruance is also a man, not a god, and since he is a man, he makes mistakes, and he does make mistakes, so will he make another mistake, a mistake that will not be saved?

It's definitely possible! Huang Xiaotian was firm in this idea, and he looked at Yan Yulong. "Spruance also knew for sure that we had suffered heavy losses and lost the combat capability of aviation. By common sense, we should now withdraw from the battle and return to the port of Apra. And the destroyers in the 'Death Fleet' will definitely be able to play a big role when the fleet returns. Since Spruance will think that we will retreat, then we just don't retreat, three cruisers, six destroyers, as long as we seize the opportunity, it will not be a problem to take out two aircraft carriers! ”

"But they'll be killed too."

"Let the destroyers concentrate on using torpedoes, the US aircraft carriers are all injured, they can't run fast, and their maneuverability is also very poor, as long as they get two or three torpedoes, it will definitely be over!" Huang Xiaotian sneered, "If the U.S. military is well prepared, then it will not attack, or it will flee immediately after the torpedo attack, even if it can't defeat the U.S. escort warships, if the 'Death Fleet' wants to escape, it will still be difficult for the U.S. escort warships to catch up!" ”

Yan Yulong pondered for a moment. "Also, it is unlikely that Spruance will have his escort go in pursuit, unless he thinks the route back to Pearl Harbor is safe and there is no activity from our submarines."

"That's right, then we have to try to inflict more losses on the Fifth Fleet, even if we can't kill the Fifth Fleet, we must delay its return to Pearl Harbor, which can delay the time for the Fifth Fleet to recover its combat effectiveness!"

The two of them agreed so, Huang Xiaotian only made a request, he was not the commander of the artillery battle, and the specific orders were drawn up by Yan Yulong. Subsequently, the order was sent out by radio and sent to the heavy cruiser "Nehe", the flagship of the "Death Fleet".